Lyin', 'cheatahs': Sports is a jungle

It's pretty hard to find sympathy for Ryan Braun these days - maybe because it was so easy for him to lie to us for nearly two years.

And it's even easier to laugh at Alex Rodriguez. Mocking him has become the new national pastime.

Heck, we ridiculed Rodriguez as Cameron Diaz - CAMERON FREAKIN' DIAZ! - fed him popcorn from a Super Bowl luxury suite on live TV, as if that was something of which to be ashamed, as if any male reading this wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of that Redenbacher surprise (a little popcorn and some cheesecake on the side).

We're obviously jealous.

We're envious of the hundreds of millions Rodriguez has banked, of the women - Diaz, Kate Hudson and, ugh, Madonna among them - to which he has been linked, and of the career path he has been allowed to follow for two decades.

OK, so he took a shortcut. He cheated. Big deal.

Baseball is a game built on cheating - from the spitball to corked bats to sign stealing. It's been said that those who aren't cheating aren't trying hard enough to win. Truth be known, the sports profession, not just baseball, is based on finding a competitive edge and exploiting the heck out of it.

Just ask Bill Belichick.

Rodriguez is about to have the book thrown at him for his involvement in performance-enhancing drugs. Braun, who lied for two years about his innocence, finally accepted his fate on Monday when he was suspended for the remainder of this season.

Apparently, that was a little too much cheating for us to stomach.

Where do we draw the line?

What is deemed palatable by the average sports fan?

And while we're at it, ask yourself a few more questions: Would you cross the line to better your life at the cost of your reputation? In your struggles to make ends meet, would you cut a corner that would allow you to send your child to college, buy a bigger house or set up yourself financially for life?

Don't be so quick to answer.

Until put in that position, nobody knows for sure where the line will be crossed. It's different for each of us.

I harbor no ill feelings toward the choices Braun, Rodriguez or any athlete made to advance himself in his career. Doing so would be hypocritical. Many of you will be quick to answer. You'll deem this to be ludicrous and preach to the masses that the value of a pristine reputation (a myth, mind you) and one's integrity are priceless.

Again, don't be so quick to judge.

I don't judge Braun harshly for his decision to use drugs. That was a decision he made freely, and if it made him a better player - he was the 2011 NL Most Valuable Player - and he were able to cash in on that enhanced skill level with a multi-year deal worth $33.5 million over the next three seasons, then so be it.

If only he would have owned that decision.

When he tested positively for PEDs at the end of 2011, he denied it vehemently and did so by attacking the process for delivering his urine sample and the man charged - a middle-class Milwaukee man named Dino Laurenzi Jr. - with collecting Braun's sample.

Braun set out to ruin Laurenzi, a guy who was just doing his job. And Brewers fans sided with the All-Star outfielder. That's usually the way it works.

Surprisingly, so did an arbitrator. Somehow, Braun beat the rap and held a news conference during spring training last year that was laced with vindication and I-told-you-so bravado.

Seventeen months later, Braun is now simply a liar - one who could no longer use vehemence to hold off the avalanche of evidence against him.

If only he would have fessed up from the start.

This is a forgiving society. It's been proven that those who come to the altar with sincerity in their hears and promises of atonement on their tongues - i.e., Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi - are allowed to return to their chosen vocation with just a slap on the wrist.

It will be interesting to watch how the 29-year-old Braun overcomes all of this, the measures he'll take to win back what he mistook to be unconditional adoration.

He's young enough to get past this - if he quits his lying ways.

Unfortunately for Rodriguez, arguably one of the top five players of his generation, his reputation has been forever ruined. The best thing we can say about him is that he sold it for top dollar.